Is London's water infrastructure ready for the future?
After multiple summers of extreme weather and record-breaking temperatures, it's a question worth asking. The Thames Tideway Tunnel, delivered by Tideway, shows what long-term investment in water infrastructure can achieve, and why investing in London’s future water infrastructure is vital to keep the taps flowing for generations to come.
A challenging year for water
This summer was the UK’s hottest on record, and England had its driest July since records began in 1836. Longer periods without rain, combined with a growing population across London and the South East, are putting increasing pressure on the water resources millions of people rely on every day.
This wasn’t a one-off. The South of England has experienced three droughts in the past five years, in 2022, 2025 and 2026. With the South East officially classed as “seriously water stressed”, drought is becoming the norm, not the exception.
According to the Environment Agency, England could face a shortfall of around 5 billion litres of water a day by 2055 without action to secure future water supplies. The Thames Water region alone faces a shortfall of 1 billion litres a day by 2050. Together, this highlights the scale of the challenge facing both the country and our region.
To keep thriving, London must future-proof itself against a changing climate and rising demand. Long-term water security underpins the city’s resilience, and the new homes, jobs and investment it needs to grow.
What Tideway shows us
Built to stop sewage overflowing into the tidal Thames, the Thames Tideway Tunnel is already delivering results. The first annual Tideway Benefits Report, published last month, sets out what the 25km ‘super sewer’ achieved in its first full year of operation.
The results speak for themselves. In 2025, Tideway cut the sewage overflows going into the Thames by 86% and stopped around 84 tonnes of wet wipes and other sewage-related litter from reaching the river. For a river declared biologically dead in the 1950s, that’s a transformation for the Thames, its wildlife and everyone who uses it.
Tideway shows what’s possible when we plan, invest and deliver for the long term. Now we need that same ambition to secure London’s water supply for the decades to come.
Securing London’s water supply
That’s why we’re progressing the Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) project, which could provide up to 75 million litres of additional water a day, helping strengthen London’s resilience to drought.
The project would operate in two parts. When needed, water would be taken from the Thames above Teddington Weir and transferred to our Lee Valley reservoirs where it would be treated to become drinking water for customers across Greater London. To maintain river flow and protect the local environment, highly treated, recycled water would be returned to the River Thames. Water recycling is a tried-and-tested technology used in countries around the world, including Australia, the USA and Singapore.
TDRA would be an important part of the solution to London’s future water needs. Water security underpins business confidence and investment across the capital, and a severe drought could cost London’s economy as much as £500 million a day. TDRA would help keep taps flowing, businesses, hospitals and schools open, and daily life going as usual for the millions of people who live in, work in and visit the city.
Building on Tideway’s legacy
Tideway is an independent company set up to deliver the Thames Tideway Tunnel. Thames Water now operates the new system, while Tideway continues to own, maintain and optimise its use for the benefit of London.
Around 25,000 people worked on the project, developing skills and experience that London’s next generation of water infrastructure projects, including TDRA, can draw on.
The next challenge is to build on that legacy, strengthening the capital’s resilience to water shortages while protecting the environment and supporting a growing population. Continued investment in resilient water infrastructure will be vital to keeping London’s taps flowing, whatever the future brings.
You can read more about the Thames Tideway Tunnel in our recent press release.
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